As a figure skater, I am thoroughly offended by this article.

When a football player fumbles the ball but the team still manages to win the superbowl, does anyone pay attention to that fumble?

When a pro-baseball player swings and misses, but then hits a home run, does anyone remember the fact that he missed that first swing?

There are a million examples in the sports world where people screw up. As for figure skating, competition conditions are often nearly the opposite of what a skater is used to. Competition rinks are smoothed every few skaters, whereas most skaters are accustomed to being on somewhat rough ice. The ice at a competition rink also tends to be considerably harder than your typical practice rink ice. To put it plainly, the ice is considerably more difficult to work on. There is less friction, and it is harder to pick-in properly for a good jump. This is not accounting for fatigue (at a competition, you are lucky to get four or five hours of sleep before you hit the ice, between travel and practice ice), nerves, and the fact that you are skating in a strange place being watched by thousands of people.

There is also an extraordinary amount of athleticism and discipline in skating that most don't consider. I was never a "hardcore" skater, and still spent at least eight hours a week at the rink, and at least an additional six at the gym, and another six doing off-ice training with my coach.

My most intensive skating was done while I was in high school, and I didn't hit the rink until an hour after I got off school, so I would run laps with whatever sports team was using the track at the time. Daily, I would outrun, both in speed and endurance, the entire football team, as well as about half the cross-country team.

To say that figure skating is an "easy" sport would be the pinnacle of idiocy. Building up enough muscle mass to even do a single axel takes at least a year, often more, of dedication and training. And, as most skaters are pushing their limits in an attempt for extra points at competitions, it's not at all outrageous to EXPECT falls. Let's see you get out there, hurl yourself into the air using one foot, spin around three or four times in a specific way, and then land neatly on a blade about 1/8" thick, all the while going about 25mph. Moving a fraction of an inch can cause a fall.

In figure skating, even falling is an art form. You have to consider that, even though a fall may look clumsy, every motion is carefully controlled by the skater. After all, when you have two large, very sharp blades strapped to your feet, falling can be very dangerous indeed.

In a nutshell, figure skating to the uneducated spectator may be the "world's least graceful sport". But the next time you get to an ice rink, let's see how well you do when you attempt a jump.